\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[papersize={18in,12in}]{geometry}
\usepackage[absolute]{textpos}
\usepackage{color}
%\usepackage[colorgrid,texcoord,gridunit=in]{eso-pic}[2002/11/16]
\usepackage{calc}
\usepackage{allrunes}
\usepackage{forloop}
\pagestyle{empty}
\newcommand{\laece}[1]{
\bgroup
 \noindent\Huge\textcolor[rgb]{0.#1,0.#1,1.0}{\textbf{\textara{\textro{l\ae ce}}}}   
\egroup}
\begin{document}
\textblockorigin{0cm}{0cm}
\newcounter{pages}
\setcounter{pages}{50}
\newlength{\trimwidth}
\newlength{\trimheight}
\setlength{\trimheight}{10in}
\setlength{\trimwidth}{8in}
\newlength{\spine}
\setlength{\spine}{0.002252in*\value{pages}}
\newlength{\leftedge}
\setlength{\leftedge}{(18in - (\trimwidth * 2) - \spine)/2}
\newlength{\topedge}
\setlength{\topedge}{(12in-\trimheight)/2}
\newcounter{ct}
\forloop{ct}{0}{\value{ct}<9}{
\begin{textblock*}{4in}(\leftedge+\trimwidth+\spine+2in,\topedge+4.4in-0.3in*\value{ct})
\laece{\arabic{ct}}
\end{textblock*}}

\begin{textblock*}{4in}(\leftedge+10in+\spine,\topedge+4.7in)
\noindent\Huge\textcolor[rgb]{0.0,0.0,0.75}{L\AE CE}
\end{textblock*}
\end{document}
